Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa said the embattled carmaker will lean on partnerships for growth, days before the Jeep owner is due to reveal details of a deep overhaul.
“Partnerships will be embedded in our strategy going forward,” Filosa said Tuesday at the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference in London.
Stellantis, which has been working to recover volumes and market share in both the US and Europe, this month already unveiled a plan for deeper cooperation with China’s Leapmotor in Europe.
The manufacturer, which disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected first-quarter results, is working to ink partnerships that can have “benefits for both sides,” Filosa said.
The goal is to retain jobs while coming up with attractive models for brands like Fiat, he added. Such agreements don’t necessarily put at risk independence, Filosa said.
“Partnerships don’t need to be mono-directional,” he said.
The owner of the Maserati, Fiat and Peugeot brands is accelerating a restructuring of its European operations while bolstering spending in its more profitable North American business.
As part of the revamp, Stellantis last week said two of its factories in Spain will produce electric vehicles for Leapmotor.
The move marks a deepening shift in Europe’s car industry, where Chinese manufacturers like BYD and Chery’s Omoda brand have been winning over buyers.
Amsterdam-based Stellantis recently revived a partnership with Dongfeng in China, and the group may ink additional agreements with one or more Chinese manufacturers to address overcapacity in Europe, Bloomberg reported last month.
The CEO, who took the helm of the group nearly a year ago, didn’t rule out partnerships also for its key US market.
While he didn’t expect Chinese carmakers in the US for some years, “I see that the US being one of the largest markets in the world can provide ground for partnerships.”
Stellantis said last week it also plans to deepen cooperation with Leapmotor on purchasing to cut costs, a move that could have repercussions for European suppliers such as Valeo and Forvia.
The company is set to unveil its business review on May 21 in the US.
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